BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Anyone who says they knew who was going to win Friday night’s NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Volusia Speedway Park before the leaders hit the finish line is blowing smoke. Big, billowing clouds of smoke.
While Sheldon Haudenschild won the drag race to the finish line by inches, either defending series champion Brad Sweet or fast-qualifier David Gravel could have notched their first win of the season had Haudenshild’s mount faltered for a fraction of a second.
Gravel and Haudenschild lined up on the front row, but Gravel won the race to turn one and began building a lead. He was into the backmarkers in seven laps and worked his way to a comfortable lead over Haudenschild and the fourth-starting Sweet by lap 10.
The race’s only yellow flew on lap 15 to retrieve Gio Scelzi, who had stalled in turn four, with Gravel getting a big jump on the restart. Sweet immediately began working the inside of Haudenschild and finally slid by on lap 19 as they hit turn three.
Gravel still looked strong but with eight to go, he went almost to the wall at the top of the backstretch and the sharks smelled blood. Sweet shot low by Gravel to take the lead and Haudenschild soon followed.
Haudenschild blew around Sweet with three to go only to have the fleet Californian take the lead right back just as Gravel arrived on the scene again, taking the lead back off turn four the next time around. The final two laps looked like a bar fight on wheels but in the end, Haudenschild’s beloved top groove gave him the momentum to beat Sweet to the stripe.
Carson Macedo turned in a great run from 16th to fourth with Jacob Allen, James MacFadden, Thursday night winner Donny Schatz, Tyler Courtney, Corey Eliason and Aaron Reutzal trailing. Crowd favorite Kyle Larson finished just out of the top 10 after missing the dash and starting in the ninth row.
“I set things up a couple of laps before I tried that last lap move and it worked,” tipped the elated Haudenschild, who now has two of the highly sought after Baby Gator trophies that come with a Volusia win. “I figured I had nothing to lose. With four to go, I realized they were both struggling and decided it was time to go.
“The top is a long way around so I had to commit to it and stay fast. Then it just came down to a drag race off turn four.
This win shows that our team, together three years now, is really coming together.”
“I was struggling late in the race and I knew somebody would be there,” offered Sweet. “I don’t know what it was but the car just didn’t feel good there at the end. The track was taking rubber on the bottom and at the end, I couldn’t get it to stick there like it did before. It was a good track with multiple lanes, it just didn’t work out.”
Gravel, on the other hand, knew exactly why he was struggling. “I broke a shock off. I let off for that yellow, hit a hole and the right front shock broke right off. Being so close to winning, it really hurts. We fought really hard tonight but just came up short.”
Probably the only smile as big as Haudenschild’s graced the face of World Racing Group head Brian Carter, who said “now we have a race track. It took a lot of work but now the track is back to normal. This new clay doesn’t need a lot of water and it doesn’t get dusty. Once the weather cooperated, everything came together.”
Some of the new clay had been removed and piled in the infield in an attempt to remove Thursday night’s holes and ruts and drivers who reported they had only run three quarters throttle were hard on the gas Friday.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2][$10,000]; 2. 2-David Gravel [1][$6,000]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$3,500]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo [16][$2,800]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [6][$2,500]; 6. 83-James McFadden [18][$2,300]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [12][$2,200]; 8. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3][$2,100]; 9. 26-Cory Eliason [10][$2,050]; 10. 8-Aaron Reutzel [8][$2,000]; 11. 19-Brent Marks [11][$1,600]; 12. 57-Kyle Larson [17][$1,400]; 13. 39M-Anthony Macri [21][$1,200]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [20][$1,100]; 15. 11-Kerry Madsen [5][$1,050]; 16. 9-Kasey Kahne [15][$1,000]; 17. 13-Justin Peck [22][$1,000]; 18. 5-Spencer Bayston [13][$1,000]; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7][$1,000]; 20. 21-Brian Brown [14][$1,000]; 21. 20G-Noah Gass [26][$]; 22. 7S-Jason Sides [19][$1,000]; 23. 6-Bill Rose [25][$]; 24. 55-Alex Bowman [24][$1,000]; 25. 1S-Logan Schuchart [9][$1,000]; 26. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [23][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: David Gravel 1-21, 29; Brad Sweet 22-28; Sheldon Haudenschild 30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 41-Carson Macedo[+12]